


Between The Bars

by glassesmorty



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Depression, Drinking, Existential Crisis, Fluff and Angst, Highschool AU, Kissing, Like really really slow, Like really slow, M/M, Nihilism, Panic Attacks, Rick and Morty aren't related, Slow Burn, They're the same age, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-09 03:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17994365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glassesmorty/pseuds/glassesmorty
Summary: Highschool AURick was the new kid at Morty's school, and Morty was determined to figure him out.





	1. So Why Do Good Girls Like Bad Guys?

**Author's Note:**

> This was slightly inspired by AwesomeMango7's Rick and Morty Highschool AU. I loved it so much and was sad to find that there aren't many other stories like it, so I decided to write my own. I'll be adding tags as the story progresses, because I'm not entirely sure how it's going to play out yet. Hope you enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the name of the fic is a song title, I’m just naming the chapters song titles/lyrics that randomly pop into my head while I’m writing. Very interesting, I know.

Morty didn’t like school.

Most kids don’t really enjoy school all too much. They don’t like doing the work, or getting up early, or any of that shit.

Morty didn’t like school because he was depressed.

Everyone gets sad. It’s part of life. But when you’re sad _all the time_? There’s a problem deeper than just a bad day. It was like he saw the world in gray. When he was younger, the grass was a vibrant green, and all colors popped in a way that made him absolutely fascinated with the world that he lived in. But slowly, the world lost its color, leaving Morty feeling just… numb. Nothing made him happy anymore. The things he used to enjoy doing were just dull to him now, the people he liked hanging around became nuisances. He wanted to be left alone, but he hated being lonely. His only friend, who had stuck with him for 10 years now, was a girl named Jessica. She used to be fun to hang around with, but now she was just annoying.

Morty shouldn’t have thought she was annoying. She was his best friend and had stuck with him when others didn’t. But sickly enough, Morty thought she was annoying because she was happy. It was fucked up, and Morty knew it. How could you hate someone for being _happy_? It made Morty hate himself more than he already did. She was just _such_ a good, happy-go-lucky person. It frustrated him to no end.

_Why can’t I be happy, too?_

Morty sighed and rested his head in his arms. He just wanted to crawl in his bed and sleep. The small amount of energy he had left in him was already gone, and it was only 1st period. He didn’t give a shit about what Mr. Goldenfold was lecturing about. He didn’t give a shit about anything. He just wished he could disappear.

“Morty!”

Morty slowly raised his head at Jessica’s harsh whisper.

“Are you okay?”

Morty shrugged at her and put his head back down, ignoring how concerned she looked for him.

_I’ll just tell her it’s a headache. It wouldn’t be a total lie._

Morty seemed to always have a headache, he ached all over. Everything just hurt all the time and he couldn’t make it stop.

“Morty!”

Morty internally groaned. God, why did she _care_ so much? Morty lifted his head and locked eyes with her, giving her a cold glare. “ _What_?” he whispered back, a little too harsh.

She frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Morty! Jessica! Quiet, or I’m sending you both to the principal’s office!” Mr. Goldenfold yelled.

Jessica gave him a, ‘this isn’t over,’ look and returned her attention to the chalkboard at the front of the classroom.

Morty rolled his eyes and, once again, rested his head in his arms. He should be happy that someone cared about him. Who wouldn’t be? But Morty just felt like he was bringing her down. She was smart, social, and was obviously leading up to a successful life. She shouldn’t be focusing on trying to make Morty happy. It made him feel _worse_.  She would be so much better off abandoning him. Why hadn’t she yet?

Morty was snapped out of his thoughts by the ear-splitting sound of the bell. He sighed and gathered his things, wishing he could bolt out the door to avoid Jessica’s questioning. But he knew Jessica would find him at some point, so there was no point in prolonging the inevitable. He walked to the door and waited for her. He stared at the floor, zoning out for a moment before Jessica tapped him on the shoulder.

“Are you okay? You seem really out of it today.”

 _I’m always out of it_.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Jessica. Just a headache, is all,” Morty lied.

Jessica’s eyes grew suspicious. “Are you sure you’re alrig-“

“Yes, Jessica, I’m fine! Please, can we just drop it already?” Morty snapped.

Why was she suddenly noticing how shitty he felt? Had he concealed it better before? Or was today worse than the others?

“Damn, fine.” Following Morty’s wishes, Jessica dropped the subject and stalked away.

Morty huffed and turned the opposite direction to go to his 2nd period, which was science. He didn’t mind science all too much. He still didn’t objectively like it, though. He just couldn’t bring himself to care about much of anything.

The walk to class was uneventful, as usual. He was pretty much invisible to everyone around him. Nobody spared a glance at him as he made his way to his seat at the back of the classroom. The desks were in pairs of two, but since there was an uneven number of students, Morty didn’t have a lab partner. Mrs. Reed had suggested a group of three, but Morty had begged her to let him work alone.

She was fond of Morty, for some reason.

Mrs. Reed was hanging up a poster on the back wall, and gave him a bright smile as he sat down.

“Good morning, Morty.”

Morty smiled back at her weakly. “Morning.”

“How are you today?” She asked.

Morty hated small talk. “Fine, thanks. You?”

“As good as ever. I’m reorganizing the classroom today, so I’ll be putting on a movie. An educational one, of course,” she beamed. She seemed _way_ too happy to Morty. It just came off as weird.

“So I’m guessing- So I’m guessing we’ll have to take notes?” Morty asked, lamely trying to keep up the conversation. He couldn’t care less about it, though.

“No, just a quick summary so I’ll know you were paying at least a _little_ bit of attention. It doesn’t have to be complex, though. A couple of sentences will do.”

Morty nodded, feeling drained from the small interaction. He twisted back around to face the front of the classroom. Mrs. Reed was nice, and was Morty’s favorite teacher, but her kindness was a bit overwhelming. He felt like he didn’t deserve to be treated so nicely. The late bell rang, and Mrs. Reed made her way towards the door to shut it. But not before a tall, blue haired teen stepped into the classroom.

Mrs. Reed smiled brightly at him. “You must be the new student, I’m Mrs. Reed,” she held out her hand and he shook it, a blank expression on his face. “Rick. Sorry I was almost late.”

Morty narrowed his eyes at him. He wore blue jeans that were ripped at the knees, but didn’t look like they were bought that way. His black jacket was zipped up and appeared bulky, which looked odd paired with his skinny frame. His sneakers looked like they could use a good cleaning.

“Don’t worry about it, Rick. I always cut my new students some slack the first couple of days, it’s hard finding your way around a new school,” she assured him. She averted her gaze to Morty at the back of the classroom. “Why don’t you take a seat next to Morty?” Rick’s eyes locked with his, and Morty felt his breath hitch in his throat. There was something about this guy that made Morty feel uneasy. Maybe it was his lack of emotion.

The rest of the class watched Rick as he walked and sat in the seat next to Morty. Morty felt himself shrinking in his seat, not liking the class looking in his direction. Being next to Rick made Morty feel small and insignificant.

Morty decided he didn’t like Rick.

“You got a pencil I can borrow?”

Morty flinched at the sudden voice, startling him out of his thoughts. He peered up at Rick, who was staring back at him with an unreadable expression. He couldn’t tell if Rick was annoyed, upset, or just flat out bored.

“W-what?” Morty stuttered stupidly.

Morty settled on annoyed when Rick rolled his eyes. “A pencil? You know, the thing you write with?”

Morty glared at him. Yeah, he definitely didn’t like this guy. He then checked his pockets and in his notebook, coming up empty. “No, I don’t even have one for myself.”

Mrs. Reed was fiddling with the projector as the student’s voices slowly grew in volume. Rick sighed, irritated. “Anyone in here got an extra pencil?” He asked, voice overpowering those of the other students.

Most of the class went silent, except for a select few who continued talking. “I have one,” the girl sitting in front of Morty said, a bit too eagerly. She pulled a regular wooden #2 pencil out of her purse, handing it to Rick as she tucked a piece of her shiny black hair behind her ear. She batted her eyelashes at him.

Morty almost groaned in irritation, but he restrained himself.

Rick took it from her. “Thank you very much.” Her flirtatious giggle was cut short and replaced by a small shriek when Rick snapped the pencil in half, the intense sound of it causing a few other students to flinch. She seemed to be questioning her infatuation with him as she twisted back around in her seat, not saying anything else.

Rick then unzipped his jacket and reached inside, revealing about a dozen hidden pockets. They were obviously stitched in by Rick, and they all seemed to be full. He reached inside one of them and pulled out a black golf ball sized gadget. He then proceeded to stick the broken end of the pencil inside. Morty was expecting a noise to come from it, but it was virtually silent. Almost as soon as Rick had put it in, Rick was pulling out a perfectly sharpened pencil. He set it in front of Morty, tucking the gadget away and pulling out a sheet of paper, saying nothing.

Morty stared dumbly at the pencil in front of him, not sure what to say. He picked it up and examined it. “A-Are you sure you don’t want the side with the- with the eraser?”

“I don’t make mistakes,” Rick said, writing his name at the top of his paper.

Morty scoffed and pulled out a sheet of paper of his own. Mrs. Reed started the movie and turned off the lights, the nasty, wet weather outside making it even darker in the classroom. Morty spared a glance at Rick, who wasn’t paying attention in the slightest. Instead, he was doodling in the margins of his paper. Morty pushed his paper to the corner of his desk and rested his head in his arms, the darkness of the classroom making him even more drowsy. He closed his eyes and started to drift off.

 

-

 

A sudden shaking of his shoulders dragged Morty out of his sleep. He lifted his head only to be blinded by the fluorescent classroom lights. He groaned and rubbed at his tired eyes that were slowly adjusting to the light, his head pounding.

“The bell is ringing in like, two minutes,” Rick said from beside him. “As for your paper, just write the difference between ionic and covalent bonds and you should be fine.”

Morty mumbled a “thank you” and slid his paper in front of himself, writing down what Rick had told him. At least Morty knew the answer and wouldn’t seem stupid in front of Rick. When he was finished, he glanced at Rick nervously, who was staring at his desk with a bored expression. Morty returned his gaze back down to his paper. “Do-Do you want the pencil back?” Morty asked, rolling it around on his desk uneasily.

Rick shook his head. “I gave it to you for you to use. I don’t need it back.” Morty stopped rolling the pencil, realizing that the noise was probably annoying.

 “Did-did you make that pencil sharpener yourself? The- the one that you used earlier?” Morty asked, curious.

“Mhm,” Rick hummed in response.

“It’s uh- It’s impressive,” Morty said, looking at Rick. “I’ve never seen anything quite- quite like it before.”

A slight tint of red colored Rick’s cheeks for a split second, before he frowned and closed his eyes, the dark circles under them making him look tired. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

The bell rang before Morty could say anything else. He watched silently as Rick stood and shoved his way through the other students, glaring at the floor and speeding out of the classroom.

_Damn, what’s his deal?_

Morty stared, confused, rubbing the eraser of the pencil. He shrugged and grabbed his books and paper, realizing that Rick had left his on his desk without turning it in. He sighed and grabbed his as well, turning both of their papers into Mrs. Reed. He said goodbye to her and left to go to his 3rd period.

 

-

 

Morty was twiddling his fingers on his way to lunch, feeling nervous about seeing Jessica again. He felt bad about being a dick to her that morning. He knew she would be expecting an apology.

Morty walked past the lunch line and sat down at their usual table, waiting for her. He never ate at school, he just didn’t have an appetite most of the time. He only ever ate when he felt he absolutely had to. Food just didn’t taste _good_ to him anymore. It was bland.

Jessica made her way over to the table and set down her tray, sitting in front of Morty and crossing her arms. Morty met her eyes and didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He sighed. “I’m sorry for being a dick this morning. You- You don’t deserve to be treated like that.”

Jessica smiled at him and uncrossed her arms, opening her pack of apple slices. “It’s okay. How were your classes?”

Morty was about to go for his traditional ‘fine, you?’ but decided against it. “Um, there’s this new dude in my 2nd period, so now I have a lab partner.”

“That Rick Sanchez guy? He’s hot, right?”

Morty choked on nothing. “Wh-What?”

“He’s _hot_. And mysterious. I tried talking to him in 3rd but he just seemed so bored with me,” she said, seeming confused at Rick’s behavior towards her.

Morty shrugged. “It’s not you, he seems bored with everything.”

Jessica hummed and nodded in response, her mouth full.  “Did you see his hair?” She asked, swallowing.

“I mean, it’s hard not to see it,” Morty pointed out.

 “It’s _insane_. I _love_ guys with colored hair. It looks so natural on him,” she gushed. Her expression slowly morphed to perplexed. “I wonder if it _is_ natural, or if he dyes it.”

Morty was getting a little tired of hearing her talk about him so much. He chuckled half-heartedly. “Well you should- you should probably get over your little crush on him. He doesn’t seem too interested in anyone.”

Jessica sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s just no one quite like him. I can’t get him off my mind.”

Morty understood that. He hadn’t been able to get Rick off his mind since he last saw him. He was just so… _odd_. He had appeared out of nowhere. It made Morty want to know more about him.

A commotion on the other side of the cafeteria had everyone going silent, turning their heads to see the action. Brad was sizing up to a certain blue haired teen, failing to seem bigger than him considering Rick was taller by a couple inches. Brad shoved Rick with enough force to make him stumble backwards, hitting the wall.

Rick raised a brow. “What exactly is this accomplishing? Do you have low self-esteem or something? Are you trying to prove yourself? Because it’s not working.”

A couple of ‘oooo’s’ radiated through the cafeteria. Brad faltered for a second before scoffing.

“You better get rid of your attitude, _Sanchez_ ,” Brad spat, diving forward and picking up Rick by his jacket, pinning him to the wall.

Rick just stared at Brad with dull eyes, seeming completely indifferent to the situation, and just flat out _bored_.

“You ignoring me? Huh?” Brad said, slamming Rick harder into the wall.

Rick narrowed his eyes. “You don’t scare me, _asshole_ ,” he said, glaring daggers.

Brad dropped Rick and swung his fist. Rick ducked and kneed Brad in the balls, causing him to coil over. Rick unzipped his jacket and reached inside, pulling out a can of what appeared to be pepper spray. He popped off the cap and bent over, sneering at Brad before spraying him in the eyes. Brad yowled in pain and hid his face in his arms, curling in on himself. Rick scowled at him with pure disgust before tucking the pepper spray back in his jacket. He whipped around and stormed off through the cafeteria doors, the bang of them closing echoing off the walls.

After a moment of silence, the room erupted in conversation, everyone discussing what had just happened. Morty watched Brad’s friends rush over to him and guide him out of the cafeteria, presumably taking him to the nurse’s office.

Jessica twisted back around and stared with wide, surprised eyes. “ _Wow_.”

Morty wore the same expression. He sat, unblinking, trying to comprehend what he just saw. “That… That was _crazy_ ,” he breathed.

Jessica nodded. “Rick pulled some weird shit out of his pockets in 3rd, makes me wonder what all he has in there,” she said, taking a sip of her water.

“Yeah, he had- he had some sort of homemade pencil sharpener earlier. It was really cool though.”

Jessica raised a brow in confusion. “Isn’t a pencil sharpener just… a pencil sharpener?”

Morty frowned. “Yeah, but it was like, battery powered. And it was completely silent. And it sharpened it without doing that annoying thing where- where the side of the wood goes over the lead. You- You know what I’m talking about?” Morty tried to demonstrate with his hands, not sure if it was helping.

“Yeah, kind of,” Jessica shrugged. “Man, I wouldn’t wanna be on his bad side. He kinda scares me.”

 

-

 

The rest of the day went by as usual. Morty went through the rest of his classes, not saying a word. None of his other teachers ever tried talking to him, and the only class he had with Jessica was 1st period. He hadn’t seen Rick again, which Morty wasn’t sure if he was thankful or disappointed about.

Morty rested his head on the window of the bus, watching the trees and houses go by. He wanted to sleep when he got home, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to. It was easy to fall asleep at school, hard not to, but at home he just _couldn’t_.

Morty sighed. He was tired, but he knew sleep couldn’t fix his type of tired.

Morty watched his street sign come into view, and the bus came to a stop. Morty stood, keeping his eyes trailed on the floor as he walked to the front.

And then, of course, he bumped into someone.

 _Hard_.

Morty shrieked, very unmanly, and felt his cheeks heat up. He reached down to help the victim of his clumsiness pick up their dropped items, frantically spewing out a string of apologies. They reached down at the same time, however, and Morty was met with a pair of icy eyes. His breath hitched in his throat. Morty hadn’t noticed just how… _blue_ they were earlier. They were fire in water, if that was possible. They were cold and had appeared lifeless to Morty before. But he could see now that there was _so much_ behind them. Morty’s blush spread to his ears when he realized how close they were, noses only inches apart. Morty broke the stare and grabbed Rick’s half of the pencil that they shared, locking eyes with him again as he held it out to him.

The interaction seemed to not have only affected Morty. Rick had a slight blush on his cheeks as well, and Morty would have smiled in amusement if he didn’t feel so breathless. Rick shook his head, breaking their eye contact again. He took the pencil and rose back to his normal height, Morty doing the same.

They both got off the bus, not saying anything else. The sound of the bus driving away faded, leaving them in silence. Rick shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and stalked off down the sidewalk, his head down. Morty wasn’t sure if he should catch up with him or just stay behind him. Morty miraculously decided on the former, confused on his own actions. He never went out of his way to talk to anyone, he avoided social interaction like it was the plague. But he felt weird about not saying anything else after their weird encounter on the bus.

Morty jogged up beside Rick, slowing and keeping pace with him. “So uh, where- where do you live?” Morty asked. The bus had always dropped Morty off at the end of the street, since it was a dead end. This had Morty walk a short couple of minutes to get to his house. There used to be another kid that got off with Morty, but he graduated last year.

“Green house,” Rick said, sounding bored.

That’s when Morty noticed the U-Haul next to his own house.

_How did I not notice that before?_

Morty wasn’t the most observant, he always seemed to be going through life in a haze. He shouldn’t have been surprised he didn’t see it.

“O-Oh. I live next to you, then,” Morty pointed out.

Rick hummed in response. Morty frowned, realizing that Rick wasn’t interested in having a conversation with him. They walked the rest of the way in silence, Morty twiddling his fingers self-consciously. Rick parted ways with him without a goodbye and stalked up to his house. When Rick opened the door, the sound of glass breaking and shouting was revealed. But it was shut out again when he entered the house and closed the door.

Damn. Morty felt bad for him. He knew what it was like to have fighting parents. But they had divorced when he was 6, he was 16 now. His memories of them fighting were vivid and vague at the same time. He remembered vividly how it felt, the anxiety and terror of watching them try to kill each other. But he could only see glimpses of it in his mind. The feelings stuck with him, though. He trekked up to his own house and walked inside. It was quiet, the opposite of Rick’s.

Summer was probably in her room. She did online college. Morty didn’t understand why she didn’t want to move out and get away from their mom, but he never really questioned her about it. He never saw her anymore, she was always either in her room or out partying with her friends.

Morty went upstairs to the bathroom to get some Tylenol out of the medicine cabinet. He took 4, which was more than necessary, but he didn’t really care. He went back downstairs to get a bottle of water out of the fridge, mentally kicking himself for not getting one before he went upstairs in the first place.

Morty knew what he would see before he entered the kitchen. His mom was slumped over the counter, pouring a glass of wine, failing to get most of it in the glass. Morty groaned. “Mom, you’re- you’re making a mess,” he said, pulling a couple of napkins off the table and placing them on the counter, the wine staining them red. He plucked the bottle from her hands and set it aside, wiping up the mess she made. This wasn’t the first time he had done this.

“Don’t criticize me Morty I know what… I’m doing. I’m the adult ya don’t know what’s best fffor me,” she mumbled, punching Morty in the arm.

“Stop, mom,” Morty said, serious. She didn’t hit him hard enough to leave a bruise, but it definitely didn’t feel good.

“Morty don’t… fucking tell me whatta do I’m the-“

“Yeah, you’re the adult, I know! But you sure don’t act like one!” Morty snapped, his heart racing. She loved excusing her drug abuse by saying that she was the adult, and that she knew better than Morty because he was “just a kid.” It pissed him off because he felt like the adult most of the time, always having to take care of her and pick up after her when she got drunk, which was almost every day. He felt like his childhood had been stolen from him. He had had to grow up so fast. He had to learn to take care of himself from such a young age because she had never been there for him.

His mom’s expression morphed into one of anger, her eyes squinted. Man, if looks could kill, he’d be dead. Morty backed away from her, knowing how unpredictable she could be in her drunken state. She stared him down, glaring daggers through him. Morty felt a chill run down his spine. When she was like this, Morty didn’t see her as his mom. He saw her as a monster. Something in her eyes was just… _different_. It wasn’t her.

“If- If you’re- If you’re the adult then you- then you can clean up your own mess,” he stuttered out. He didn't care about his headache anymore. He threw the Tylenol in the trashcan, leaving the kitchen in a rush. He had a feeling this wasn’t over, and was wishing he would have kept his mouth shut. He dashed up the stairs and to his bedroom, closing and locking the door behind him.

He felt like he couldn’t get enough air in his lungs. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears, and his legs and arms became numb and tingly. The room felt as if it had suddenly dropped 20 degrees. He gasped for air, beginning to hyperventilate. He stumbled to his bed. He felt like he was going to pass out.

 _Fuck_.

Tears started to stream down his face uncontrollably, and his breathing grew more rapid. The walls felt as if they were closing in.

 _I have to get out of here_.

He crawled across his bed, barely able to hold himself up. He pulled his curtains to the side and unlocked his window, pushing it up. As he began crawling out the window, he heard a thunderous slam behind him. He shrieked and peered over his shoulder. His mom had kicked the door in and was standing in the hallway, holding onto the door frame to keep from falling over. Her look of rage kicked in Morty’s fight or flight response.

Again? She had to do this again?

A burst of adrenaline coursed through his veins and he jumped out the window, landing on the roof with a grunt. He bolted across the roof and to the edge, staring at the tree that he had climbed down last time this happened. He grabbed a hold of a branch and barely calculated his steps as he climbed down. He almost slipped and fell but made it down with only a few minor scrapes. Now that he was down, he wasn’t sure what to do. He fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath. He wiped the tears from his cheeks, but every time he wiped them away, they were replaced by more.

“Morty?”

Morty shrieked and whipped his head around, eyes wide. Rick was on the sidewalk with a screwdriver, messing around with his bike seat. He peered at Morty with a blank look that was laced with a hint of concern. “You alright?”

Morty’s breathing still hadn’t settled down, in fact, it had only gotten worse. “I-I-I- My-My-My mom- I-“ Morty failed to get out a coherent sentence, he just kept stuttering out nonsense.

Rick spared a glance in the direction of Morty’s open window and narrowed his eyes. Morty could vaguely hear his mom and Summer shouting. Rick stood as he put his screwdriver in his jacket. He set down his bike and walked towards Morty, holding out his hand. “Come with me.”

Morty stared at Rick’s hand with wide eyes, unmoving.

“Come on, dude,” Rick said, growing impatient.

Morty eyed him and hesitantly took his hand, allowing him to help him up off the ground. Rick, however, didn’t let go, and held onto Morty’s hand as he led him to an old, red pickup truck in front of Rick’s garage. It was rusty and the paint was chipped all over, looking like it was on the verge of falling apart.

Rick opened the passenger side door. The ear piercing creak that it made caused Morty to cringe. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “Get in,” Rick said, jerking his head in the direction of the truck.

Morty eyed Rick suspiciously before obliging, stepping up into the truck and sitting down. Rick slammed the door and went to the other side, getting in and starting it up. It roared to life, and Rick backed out of the driveway and started down the road, turning up the radio. A sad guitar melody came out of the speakers before Rick quickly changed the channel to a classic rock station.

“Where- Where are we going?”

“The park,” Rick answered, keeping his eyes on the road.

Morty was going to ask why, but he decided against it. His breathing had settled down for the most part, but his heart was still racing. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm himself. He glanced at Rick, who wore his same bored expression.

“Uh, thank you,” Morty said, voice still a little shaky.

“Yeah, no problem,” Rick paused, “I uh, I know… ugh, never mind.” He glared at the road. Morty wasn’t sure which of them he was irritated with.

Morty fidgeted in his seat, feeling awkward. This whole situation was so weird. Rick didn’t even know Morty, yet he was going out of his way to help him.

Rick cleared his throat. “Are you alright?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m okay,” Morty said, twiddling his fingers.

They drifted into a slightly uncomfortable silence, and rode for a couple more minutes before Rick slowed and parked the truck. He took a hold of his largely oversized key ring, dozens of keys jangling from it, and pulled it from the ignition. He opened the door and hopped out of the truck, twirling the ring around his finger before stuffing it in his jacket. Morty opened the door and hopped out as well, shutting it and following Rick.

They were at the park that was down the road from school. There was no one there. It was a small park, with only one swing set with 4 swings, and two slides a distance away from it. It was fenced in, and there was a sign that read, ‘ _Notice: This play equipment is designed to serve children between the ages of 5-12. Playground closed after dark. No games or activities are permitted on this playground ½ hour after sunset. Violators will be prosecuted._ ’ The sun had already started going down, painting the sky with pretty oranges, reds, and pinks, tinting their surroundings with the beautiful colors. It reflected off the puddles on the ground. The air was comfortably warm, and a soft, cool breeze blew against Morty’s face. The only sound was the wind and the creaking of the swings, mixed with Morty and Rick’s footsteps on the sidewalk.

Rick opened the gate leading into the park, and Morty followed him. The woodchips in the enclosure crunching under their feet. Rick led him to the swings and gestured for Morty to sit beside him. The swings creaked under their weight as they swung gently, the silence between them comfortable this time.

Morty cleared his throat. “When- When did you move here?”

“Friday.”

It was Monday, and Morty kicked himself again for not noticing the moving truck all weekend long.

“How did you uh, know about the park?” Morty asked.

Rick stayed silent for a moment. “I went for a walk Saturday night. Ended up here,” he said, dragging his foot through the woodchips.

“Oh,” Morty said. He had a feeling it had something to do with Rick’s parents, but he didn’t want to pry. Rick seemed like he didn’t like talking about it.

“Um, what happened earlier? At your house?” Rick asked, sounding hesitant.

Morty frowned. “Oh, uh…” he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of a response that didn’t reveal too much. He didn’t want any pity. “It’s just-“

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” Rick said.

“Nah, it’s- it’s okay. My mom she just- she’s an alcoholic. It gets out of hand sometimes,” Morty said, drawing circles in the woodchips with his foot. The ground was damp underneath from where it had rained earlier.

“Out of hand?”

Morty faltered. “She’s um… she’s unpredictable. She hits me sometimes. It’s usually not too bad though.”

Rick stayed silent.

“Did- Did Brad hurt you earlier?” Morty changed the subject.

Rick snorted. “Hell no.”

“What did you even do to him?”

“I called him a pussy,” Rick said nonchalantly.

“Why?”

Rick smirked. “’Cause he’s a pussy,”

Morty laughed, gripping the chains of the swing to keep himself from falling over. Rick looked over at him, still smirking, but his eyes remained dull. Morty regained his composure and sighed. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed.

“I don’t even know you but, that seems like such a _you_ thing to do,” Morty said.

Rick shrugged. “I mean, yeah, it is. I’ve always been one to pick fights.”

“Seems- Seems like you win them, too.”

Rick pursed his lips and nodded. “Yeah. I mainly picked that one so everyone would know to leave me alone. Everyone keeps trying to talk to me for some reason.”

Morty frowned. “You don’t want anyone to talk to you?”

“Not really.”

“Oh,” Morty said, feeling a little guilty. “Um, sorry for talking to you earlier, then.”

Rick waved him off. “Nah, you’re fine. It’s mainly the girls.”

Morty furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t want girls to talk to him? “Girls like bad guys, though,” he pointed out.

Rick hummed in thought. “I want to be less the ‘bad guy’ and more the ‘scary dude’.”

Morty thought for a second about how turned off Jessica seemed after she saw the fight. “Well, my friend- my friend Jessica seemed to not like you as much after she saw- after she saw the fight, so it probably worked. At least, a little bit,” Morty said.

Rick hummed again, and they stayed silent for a moment. The sun was almost all the way down, the stars starting to become visible above them. The air was growing chillier as well.

“Why don’t you want girls to talk to you?” Morty asked, curious.

Rick shrugged. “Because. They don’t like me for _me_. They like me for my looks. If they really knew me, they wouldn’t like me anymore. It’s just shallow, I guess. They see me and then think they have a crush on me without even knowing who I am.”

Morty rubbed the chain of the swing. “Well, I mean… Beauty is subjective. So, um, some girls- some girls probably think you’re ugly,” Morty said before thinking about it.

Rick snorted. “Do you think I’m ugly?” He peered over at Morty.

Morty looked at Rick, meeting his gaze, and then darted his eyes back to the ground. “Well- I uh…” Morty leaned back and hid his face in his hands, feeling a fiery blush creep across his face. “Not really,” he mumbled.

Not having his hands on the swing chains to balance himself, Morty of course did what his clumsy self would do.

He fell backwards off the swing.

He shrieked and flailed his arms, trying to grab a hold of something, to no avail. He landed on the ground with a thud, the breath knocking out of him. The swing slipped from under his legs, making them hit the ground as well. He rubbed his head and groaned, his blush burning his cheeks. The creaking of the empty swing was mocking him. He opened his eyes to find Rick standing over him with one hand outstretched, the other covering his mouth, his face red. Morty presumed Rick was blushing from second hand embarrassment. He could tell by the crinkling of Rick’s eyes that he was smiling widely. Morty couldn’t help the grin that spread across his own face. “Not funny,” he muttered, trying to suppress a laugh that he could feel bubbling up. God, he was so stupid sometimes.

Rick snorted, then completely lost it. He buckled over laughing, placing his hands on his knees to hold himself up. Rick’s laugh was contagious as hell, and it made Morty lose his ability to contain his own. They both laughed for what seemed like an eternity, fighting to catch their breath, and when they thought they were done, they would look at each other and lose themselves all over again. Morty couldn’t help but take a mental note on how attractive Rick was when he was laughing and having fun. His smiling face was much more pleasant than his scowling, bored expression he usually wore, and it gave his eyes a twinkle. Morty thought he should smile more often. It looked good on him.

They finally contained themselves, wiping at the tears that had formed in their eyes. Rick held out his hand again, Morty taking it this time, the both of them still chuckling. Rick pulled him up and Morty wiped the woodchips off of himself. The sun was almost out of view, just barely peeking over the trees on the horizon. They stood in silence and watched it go the rest of the way down.

Morty couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this at peace, or this _happy_. He could fairly say that he was genuinely happy in that moment. He felt proud that he had pulled Rick out of his seemingly constant state of indifference, and he was thankful that Rick had been kind enough to get him away from home for a little bit.

Rick sighed. “I think we should head back. My stepmom will probably be wondering where I’m at.”

Morty was taken aback when Rick said he had a stepmom, he just wasn’t expecting it. He blinked and nodded, and they made their way back to the pickup truck.

As Rick drove down the road, Morty decided to break the silence. “Thanks again for- for taking me with you to the park. I had a lot of fun,” Morty said.

Rick hummed. “Yep, it was no problem. I uh… I had fun too.”

Morty smiled and lowered his head so Rick didn’t see the blush creeping up on his cheeks.

The drive was only about 5 minutes, and when Rick pulled into his driveway and turned off the truck, Morty couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. He didn’t want his time with Rick to end. But, despite his reluctance to do so, he exited the pickup truck. He walked around the truck and stood in front of Rick to say goodbye to him. Rick spoke before he could, though.

“Is it safe for you to go back to your house? ‘Cause if not then…” Rick trailed off.

Morty raised an eyebrow. Was he suggesting that if it wasn’t, he would let Morty stay with him? Damn, he really wasn’t as cold and heartless as he made himself out to be. He was actually really sweet and thoughtful.

But Morty waved him off. “Nah, my mom’s probably passed out. She’ll- She’ll be apologizing in the morning,” he said.

Rick nodded and turned to his house, heading towards the door. “Goodnight, then.”

Morty stared after him, then walked across the grass to his own house. He stopped in his tracks and whipped his head towards Rick as he was opening the door. “Wait!” He yelled.

Rick looked back at him, waiting for him to speak.

A wave of self-consciousness washed over Morty. “Um… weird question but uh, your hair. Is it natural or dyed?”

The confusion on Rick’s face was replaced by a smirk. “Yes,” he said, amused.

Morty smiled shyly and looked at the ground, unaware that Rick hadn’t even answered his question. “Okay, just- just asking. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Rick said, walking in his house and closing the door.

Morty stared longingly at where Rick had been just seconds prior, suddenly feeling lonely.

He sighed and made his way into his own house, closing the door slowly and tiptoeing up the stairs. He went to open his bedroom door and faltered when it pushed open with a small bit of pressure, Morty not even having to turn the knob.

_Oh, right. Mom kicked the door in._

He sighed. He would have to fix it tomorrow, he couldn’t stand it not being able to close properly. He sauntered over to his drawers and pulled out an old long-sleeved shirt and a pair of pajama pants, and went to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for bed.

When he was finished, he went back to his bedroom and closed the door, setting his trash bin in front of it so it wouldn’t slide open. He flopped onto his bed and grabbed his phone off the nightstand, checking the time.

9:00 P.M.

He had no notifications, he never did. On the rare occasion, he would get a text from Jessica. But they didn’t text much anymore. They hadn’t in a long time.

He frowned. He didn’t know why he even checked anymore, or why he was still disappointed when he never had one.

He set his phone down and closed his eyes, thinking about his day. It had been so much different than any other day he’d had in a long time. Every other day was just as uneventful as the last, meddling together in a way that made Morty unable to decipher one from the other. But today had been exciting and new, and Morty couldn’t help but feel giddy about it.

He didn’t really expect him and Rick to hang out again, though. He figured Rick would probably forget about him, or get tired of him, only tolerating being his lab partner. Morty’s frown deepened.

He blocked those thoughts out though, and began to drift off into sleep, thinking about Rick’s laugh and his twinkling blue eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment telling me how you liked it, or with some feedback or constructive criticism. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks for reading!


	2. Silence Gives You Space

Morty’s alarm blaring jolted him out of his sleep. He stretched, feeling his joints pop. He grabbed his phone and turned off the alarm. It was 7:30 A.M.

Morty had slept for 11 hours. He furrowed his eyebrows and ran a hand through his messy curls. He hadn’t slept that much in a long time. Sighing, he slipped out of the comfort of his warm bed and went to brush his teeth. Despite how much he had slept, he still didn’t feel refreshed in the slightest.

He spared a look at himself in the mirror as he brushed his teeth, grimacing. He had never really liked the way he looked, despite people telling him he wasn’t ugly. He felt like they just told him that to make him feel better. His hair was a curly mess, and he didn’t like how pointy his nose was. His eyes were dark all the way around them, making him look like he was on drugs or something. He was on the verge of underweight since he forgot to eat all the damn time.

Morty frowned at himself and looked away. He swished around the mouthwash and spat it out, the strong mint leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth. He went back to his room to change, putting on a yellow long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. Grabbing his backpack, he went downstairs and was about to leave the house when he saw his mom blocking the front door, standing in front of it with her arms crossed. She was glaring down at Morty like he was a disobedient dog.

Morty raised a brow at her. “What?”

“Apologize,” she said pointedly.

Morty scoffed. Was she serious? She should be the one apologizing. Morty crossed his arms as well and stood his ground. “Do you not- Do you not remember what happened yesterday?” Morty knew it was better to stay quiet, he usually did. But he was starting to get sick of not being able to stand up for himself. His mom got to treat him like shit all the time and  _he_  had to be the one to apologize for ‘making her mad.’

“Morty, I’m a good mom. I do so much for you.”

Morty gave her an incredulous look, then sighed. He didn’t want to have to deal with this right now. “You’re right, mom. I’m sorry,” it was hard for him to even get the words out. It made him feel sick.

She smiled and stepped towards him with her arms out, pulling him into a hug. Morty cringed in her grasp, feeling uncomfortable. He hesitantly hugged her back, barely placing his hands on her. He knew she wasn’t hugging him because she loved him, it was because she was happy that she got what she wanted.

He shrugged out of the hug and held his hands up defensively. “ _Alright_ , alright, I gotta- I gotta get to school now.”

Her smile faltered a bit, and Morty couldn’t help but feel bad. She was so good at playing the victim. He stepped away from her and walked towards the door, opening it.

“I love you, Morty.”

Morty frowned and muttered, “Uh, love you too, mom.” He shut the door behind him and began walking down the sidewalk towards the end of the street. It was a chilly morning, heavy with fog that made it hard to see his surroundings.

As he neared the bus stop, he could see Rick already standing there. Morty felt awkward as he walked up to him. Rick was wearing his same jacket as yesterday, but this time with a pair of black ripped jeans. Rick had his hands in his pockets and his head down. His eyes were closed, and he looked like he hadn’t slept at all. The dark circles under his eyes were worse than the day before.

“Hey- Hey, Rick,” Morty said.

Rick flinched and stared at Morty with wide eyes. He sighed before going back to his troubled looking state. “Hey,” he muttered, lowering his head again.

Morty stood next to Rick, keeping his distance. He shuffled his feet uncomfortably. ”Uh, why do you take the bus if you- if you have a truck?” Morty asked.

Rick closed his eyes. “There weren’t any more student parking permits.”

“Oh,” Morty said, wracking his brain for something to say. The silence between them was making him squirm. “Did you um, did you sleep okay?”

Rick huffed. “You don’t  _actually_  care so why are you asking?”

Morty was taken aback. He wasn’t expecting Rick to have an attitude with him. “What if I- What if I do?” He asked defensively.

Rick sighed. “You  _don’t_. You don’t even know me. You don’t have to try to keep up a conversation with me to be polite. It’s a pointless waste of time.”

Morty scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Fine, I won’t talk to you anymore. Would you like that?” Morty raised his voice a bit, his pent-up anger from his conversation with his mother coming out.

“I would  _love_  that,” Rick said, meeting Morty’s eyes with a cold glare.

Morty narrowed his eyes at him and turned away, feeling sort of hurt. Rick had seemed nice after their little adventure to the park yesterday, but Morty wasn’t so sure now. It was like Rick’s anger was a switch that would randomly turn on and off. Morty just didn’t know what to expect from him.

The bus stopped in front of them, saving Morty from the awkward silence that was bound to come after their spat. They stepped onto the bus, Rick getting on before him. Rick sat in an empty seat close to the front, scowling at Morty as he walked by. Morty frowned at him, not understanding why Rick seemed to suddenly hate him so much.

Morty sat in his usual seat at the very back of the bus. Everyone else sat in the middle together, conversating loud and obnoxiously. There were a few other loners who sat further to the back or front, away from the yelling and laughing teens.

Morty rested his head against the window. His altercation with Rick made him more upset than it should have. He shouldn’t have cared that much about what Rick thought about him. But it affected him so much because Rick seemingly hated him for no apparent reason. Morty hadn’t even done anything to him. Maybe he was just annoying.

Morty sighed. He definitely was  _not_  looking forward to 2nd period with Rick.

-

Morty made his way towards his locker to get his books for 1st period. He furrowed his brows in confusion when he saw Jessica waiting there for him, tapping her foot impatiently. She caught sight of him and motioned for him to hurry up. He rolled his eyes but didn’t speed up. She stepped towards him and reached out, gripping him by his shirt and pulling him to her.

“Someone told me you were with  _Rick Sanchez_  at the park yesterday, is it true?”

Morty stiffened. “W-What? Who- Who told you that?” His eyes darted around the hallway, refusing to meet her demanding stare.

“Olivia said she saw you two swinging together at the park, laughing and shit. Rick laughs? Are you guys friends or something? What did you two do?” She shook his shoulders frantically, eyes filled with a million questions. Morty shrugged her off and grimaced. “We happened to uh, we happened to see each other there so we- we kind of hung out… I guess.” Morty said, rubbing his arm. He felt bad for not telling her the full truth, but he didn’t want to get into what had happened yesterday with his mom. Jessica would without a doubt overreact about it and baby him for the rest of the day, and he did  _not_  want that.

Jessica pouted. “You never hang out with me anymore. Is he more fun than me or something?”

Morty shook his head frantically, waving his hands. “Nononono of course not! I didn’t mean to hang out with him! It just kind of… happened. Besides, Rick’s an- he’s an asshole anyway,” Morty said, crossing his arms.

Jessica bit her lip and blinked. “What did he do to you?”

Morty faltered. “Wh-What?”

Jessica shrugged. “I mean, he had to have done  _something_  to you for you to think he’s an asshole. Yesterday you didn’t really have an opinion on him.”

Morty turned to put in his locker combination. He wasn’t sure what to say to her. “I- I don’t know. He’s just…  _rude_. He didn’t do anything to me, really.” Rick actually hadn’t done anything to Morty. Nothing that he wouldn’t have done to anyone else, it seemed. Morty just took it way too personally.

“What did he say to you?”

Morty groaned. “Dude, it doesn’t really- it doesn't really matter that much. I was just talking to him and he snapped at me for no reason,” he said, taking his books out of his locker and closing it.

Jessica smirked and chuckled bitterly. “Kind of like you did to me yesterday.”

Morty scowled at her. “I already apologized for that, you know.”

“I know, I was just saying,” she said, hugging her books to her chest defensively. She looked like she was hesitating to say something.

“What?” Morty asked.

Jessica shuffled her feet and looked down. “I just… I want to hang out with you again sometime. I can’t even remember the last time we did. I miss the old times.”

Morty frowned. “What do you mean by old times?”

“You know, like when we used to have sleepovers and play Just Dance on the Wii and stuff. It was fun,” she shrugged, not looking Morty in the eye.

“Jessica, we were like,  _10_.”

She huffed. “Just because we’re older now doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to hang out and have fun still.”

Morty sighed. She was right. He just wanted to be alone, though. He couldn’t remember when he started wanting to isolate himself, but it had been a while ago. He didn’t feel like he had enough energy to keep her company if she were to come over. She would probably get bored. Morty didn’t want to do much but sleep, and he knew she would want to do something together.

Against his will, Morty asked, “Are you free this weekend?” He figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least try hanging out with her. If it would make her happy, then he would try for her. She was his best friend. His  _only_  friend.

A bright smile spread across her face. “Yes.”

Morty smiled back at her. “Alright, just- just ride the bus home with me on Friday.”

Jessica squealed with joy. “I’m so excited! I can’t wait.”

-

1st period went by uneventfully, and Morty was walking as slow as he could to 2nd. He knew it was going to be tense and awkward to be next to Rick, and he was just hoping that maybe they could make up. He didn’t want it to be like this for the rest of the semester.

He hesitated by the door, a few other students giving him strange looks as they walked in. Morty rolled his eyes, mostly irritated with himself. He just needed a few more seconds, he had to prepare himself.

Morty jumped when the bell blared. He shot forward through the doorway, expecting everyone to be looking at him when he entered. Thankfully no one was paying attention to him, he looked like a fucking idiot.

Except for one person, of course.

Rick met his eyes with a mocking smirk and Morty scowled, a light blush dusting his cheeks from embarrassment. At least Rick wasn’t glaring at him like he was earlier. Maybe this was a step in the right direction.

Morty slowly made his way to his seat, eyeing Rick the whole way there. He sat down, sliding his backpack under his desk. Morty stared at him, but Rick didn’t say anything.

Morty huffed. “Are you- Are you done being an asshole?”

Rick raised a brow. “What?”

“You heard me,” Morty said, crossing his arms.

Rick grinned smugly, leaning back in his chair. “You think you’re being intimidating?”

Morty faltered and opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it back closed, unable to come up with a response. “Sh-Shut up,” he said, looking away. He knew Rick was staring at the fiery blush on his face. Rick snorted and didn’t say anything else.

Morty frowned and turned back towards him. “Why uh, why were you being so mean this morning?” Rick seemed like he was in a good mood now, so Morty figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

Rick rolled his eyes and didn’t answer him. Morty grumbled. Rick was without a doubt the most frustrating person he had ever met.

Mrs. Reed went around the classroom handing out the directions and question sheets for the day’s lab project. She never really taught them much, she just had them learn from the textbook. Morty found it easier that way. If anyone had any questions, she would help them out, so it all worked out just fine. It was going to be different for Morty this time, though, since he had a partner now.

Morty stood and went to grab the supplies that they would need. He returned to his seat and laid everything out neatly, straightening each object so that it was aligned with the edge of the desk.

“We’re about to be fucking around with that so there’s no point in straightening it,” Rick pointed out.

Morty glared at him. “I’m  _aware_ , asshole.” He took a long pause and said, barely audible, “I just- I just like it neat, okay?”

Rick shrugged and read over his paper. Morty frowned at his own, feeling embarrassed.

Rick cleared his throat. “Well, um, I already know the answers to the questions, so… You can do the lab and then just copy my answers.”

Morty gaped at him. “How do you know the answers?”

Rick looked like a deer caught in headlights. “I don’t- I don’t fucking know! Jesus, Morty,” he scoffed, crossing his arms.

Morty narrowed his eyes at him. Had he stolen the answer key or what? There was something fishy going on here. But, despite his suspicion, it seemed like a good deal to Morty. Answering the questions is what took the most time and mental work. “Alright,” he shrugged, starting on the project. He side-eyed Rick, watching him write down the answers without even seemingly thinking about it. Within 5 minutes, Rick was taking out a sheet of notebook paper to doodle on, having answered all 15 questions effortlessly. Morty gawked at him, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as he stared, utterly impressed and confused at the same time.

“Why are you staring at me,” Rick asked, monotonous, not taking his eyes off his paper.

Morty stiffened at being caught and returned his attention to the project in front of him. He was finding it hard to focus. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts and placed his beaker of water on the Bunsen burner in front of him. His pinky finger touched the scalding hot surface on accident, and he shrieked like a 9-year-old girl, jerking his hand away. The beaker toppled over and the water inside spilled out on top of Rick’s notebook paper, destroying the bike he had been drawing.

“Dickhead,” Rick grumbled, picking up the beaker and setting it back upright.

“S-Sorry,” Morty apologized. He hissed and examined his reddened skin. It wasn’t a terribly bad burn, but damn did it hurt like hell.

Rick rolled his eyes and reached inside his jacket, pulling out a plain white tube with the words ‘ _Healing Stuff_ ’ written on it in black marker. “Gimme your hand,” Rick said, twisting off the cap.

Morty gave him an incredulous look and held his hands to his chest defensively. “The- The fuck? No! What the fuck is that?”

Rick blinked at him, looking bored and slightly irritated. He pointed to the words written on the tube. “Healing stuff,” he said nonchalantly.

“Did you make that or something?”

“Yes.”

“How- What? Why do- Why do you carry it around with you?”

Rick rolled his eyes. “In case I happen to hurt myself, duh. In this case it’s your stupid ass being  _stupid_. Now give me your damn hand,” he said, snatching Morty’s hand.

Morty didn’t try to take it back. He just stared at Rick with a baffled expression. “Why don’t you have regular ointment that you can buy at the store?”

Rick ignored him, holding out his finger and squeezing the tube, a green gel coming out. Morty cringed at the sight of it. Rick took a hold of Morty’s pinky and gently rubbed the substance onto it. Morty raised a brow when the burning stopped, and the gel began to slowly disappear; leaving behind Morty’s perfectly healed finger, looking and feeling as if he had never burned it in the first place.

Morty gaped and took back his hand, examining his finger. “Woah,” he breathed.

Rick snorted. “’ _Why don’t you have regular ointment that you can buy at the store?_ ’” He mocked.

Morty glared at him and huffed. “Asshole. As if I knew it could do  _that_.”

Rick waved his finger at him. “tsk tsk- Nope, you should be thanking me. I just healed your sorry ass.”

Morty rolled his eyes. “Thank you,” he said reluctantly.

Rick waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. Consider yourself lucky. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have done anything.” He stood and went to grab some napkins to clean up the mess Morty had made. Morty stared at Rick, feeling confused by his words. Rick moved back to the desk, wiping up the water and crumpling up his drawing. He spared Morty a look, his expression turning flustered. “Okay, dude, you can uh- you can stop staring at me now.”

Morty felt his face burn as he looked away. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

Rick threw away the napkins and paper and sat back down, sliding his answer sheet over to Morty. He rested his chin in the palm of his hand, watching Morty as he filled the beaker back up with water.

Morty felt uncomfortable under Rick’s stare, scared that he would mess something up and that Rick would make fun of him for it. But, to Morty’s surprise, he got through the rest of the lab project without messing anything else up, Rick silently observing. Morty gathered the supplies and put them back to their respected places. He sat down and began copying Rick’s answers, impressed with how well thought out and proper they were.

He took his and Rick’s sheets to Mrs. Reed to turn them in. “What do you think of working with a partner now?” She asked him as he handed the papers to her.

Morty rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, ya know, it’s alright. Nothing to complain about.”

She smiled at him. “That’s good to hear.”

Morty hummed in response and returned to his seat. There was 10 minutes left of class, and Morty found himself fidgeting, not sure what to do. Rick was tapping on his desk and staring at the clock. Morty wanted to say something to him, but he wasn’t sure what to talk about. He wracked his brain for something to say.

“Hey- Hey, Rick?”

Rick looked at him and waited for him to speak, his eyes looking tired.

“What do you uh- What do you do for fun?”

Rick raised a brow. “Why do you wanna know?”

Morty twiddled his fingers. “Because I- I would like to get to know you, I guess. We’re gonna be partners for the rest of the semester and um, it would be better if we knew each other,” he said, not looking Rick in the eye.

Rick shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“So… what do you like to do?”

Rick stayed silent for a moment. “I like to build things.”

Morty glanced up at him, waiting for him to say more.

Rick cleared his throat. “I guess you could say I like to invent things. And fix things.” He paused for a moment, looking slightly embarrassed. “I don’t know, it just gives me something to do,” he said, rolling his pencil around on his desk.

“That’s really cool,” Morty said, genuinely impressed. He could tell Rick was talented in what he liked to do, considering the few things Morty had seen that Rick had said he’d made.

Rick perked up and glanced over at him. “You think so?”

Morty nodded. “Yeah, I- I mean, I can tell you’re good at it, and I haven’t even seen the other things you’ve made. You’ve got some real skill,” he said, looking up at Rick. He felt weird complimenting him, but he also felt that Rick may not get told things like that enough.

Rick smiled softly at him, a light blush dusting his cheeks. His smile slowly morphed into a frown, though, and he looked back down, suddenly seeming sad. “Thank you,” he mumbled, returning to rolling his pencil. He was quiet for a moment before he asked, “What do  _you_  like to do?”

Morty winced. “Oh, I don’t really- I don’t really have any hobbies…” he said, rubbing his arm.

Rick looked over at him. “What do you do in your spare time, then?”

Morty thought over the question for a moment, coming up empty. “ _Nothing_ ,” he said, realizing just how much he was always wasting his time. He really had nothing to show for himself. All he ever did was sleep, watch TV, or stay on his phone. He didn’t really have the energy to do anything else.

Rick’s frown deepened. “There’s nothing you like to do? Nothing?”

Morty shook his head. “Nothing.”

Rick stared at him, looking deep in thought. He stayed silent for a few seconds before sighing. “Here,” he said, ripping off the corner of a sheet of notebook paper. He wrote something down and handed it to Morty. Morty took it from him and read it, realizing it was a phone number.

“I want to…” Rick trailed off, seeming to think hard about what he was saying. “I want to… help you. I’m um, I think it’s important to-“ he looked up in irritation, trying to figure out what to say. He groaned. “I don’t know. Just text me sometime, okay?”

The bell rang before Morty could say anything. Rick stuffed his notebook in his backpack and threw it over his shoulder, stalking out of the classroom. Morty stared at the paper in his hand, feeling an odd sense of accomplishment. He really did want to know Rick. He said it was because of them being lab partners, but he knew deep down that it wasn’t just because of that. He wasn’t sure what the other reason was yet, but he kept brushing it off, deciding to not think about it too much.

-

The rest of the day went by as usual. He hadn’t seen Rick again, which he decided this time was something he was disappointed about. He walked out of the school and stepped onto the bus. He saw Rick in the same seat that he was in before, but Rick didn’t look at him as he walked by. Morty frowned, wanting to think that Rick just didn’t see him. He sat in the back, pulling out his phone and the piece of paper with Rick’s number on it, putting him in his contacts. Morty brought up a new message, not sure if he should text him or not. He didn’t know when an appropriate time would be. He decided against texting him and stuffed his phone and the paper back into his pocket, huffing as he rested his head against the window.

He let his mind wander the rest of the bus ride, almost not realizing when the bus had stopped on his street. He rose from his seat and got off the bus, speeding up his pace to catch up to Rick on the sidewalk.

“H- Hey, Rick,” Morty greeted.

“Hey,” Rick said, eyes trailed on the ground.

Morty stayed silent, unsure of what to say next. “I um, I put your contact in my- in my phone.”

Rick chuckled bitterly and shook his head. “I can’t believe I gave you my phone number.”

Morty frowned. “Uh, is it- is it bad that you did?”

“I told myself to stop talking to you and here I am, still talking to you. So, yeah, it’s bad. I’m going against my own orders.”

Morty furrowed his brows in confusion. “Why don’t you want to talk to me…?”

Rick rolled his eyes. “ _Because_ , Morty.” He didn’t say anything else, and Morty scoffed. He was getting so tired of Rick’s mood swings. “I don’t understand you, Rick. You’re nice to me, and then you’re a total asshole, and then you’re nice to me, and then you’re a total asshole  _again_. And it’s just really- it’s really annoying. I wish you would be upfront with me.”

Rick sighed. “I just don’t want to get close to anyone. Can you understand  _that_?”

Morty faltered. “Get close to anyone?”

“It’s easier to be alone,” he shrugged.

Morty frowned, looking over at Rick. His expression was so...  _sad_. He  _did_  understand what he meant, though, and it made him feel bad for him. Morty had wanted to be alone for a long time. He just felt like he was bad for people, and that they would be better off without him. He had had the urge to cut Jessica out of his life multiple times, and he had actually gone almost a week without talking to her a few months ago to see if she would leave him alone. She had, of course, confronted him about it. But in that time, Morty had realized that being completely alone made him feel, well, lonely. It was a worse feeling than feeling like a nuisance all the time, but in a sick way he had felt like he  _deserved_  to feel as bad as he did.

Morty didn’t think Rick deserved to feel bad, though. Sure, Rick seemed like an asshole as far as Morty could tell, but he had seen a small glimpse of Rick’s soft, kind-hearted side. He was a good person deep down.

“Rick, I’m not gonna say that I know- that I know exactly how you feel, ‘cause I don’t. But I am gonna say that you deserve to be happy, and that being lonely and- and disconnected from the world feels terrible. You shouldn’t put a wall up around yourself like that.”

Rick stared at Morty incredulously, then scowled. “What are you, my therapist or something?”

Morty glared at him. “Dude, I’m trying- I’m trying to help you.”

“ _Don’t_. I don’t need your help, or anyone else’s.”

Morty scoffed. “ _Okay_ , jeez. I won’t- I won’t try to help you. But can we at least try to get along?”

Rick frowned at him. “Sure, I guess.”

“Then just- just try not to be such an asshole. I haven’t done anything to you.”

Rick sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I know.”

Morty could see Rick agonizing over whatever internal conflict he was dealing with, and it made him slightly uncomfortable. He felt like he was the cause of it. They were about to part ways when Morty had an idea. “Wait, didn’t you say you like to fix things?”

“Yeah, why?”

Morty rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, I have something you can fix, if you’d like.”

Rick shrugged. “Alright.”

Morty walked towards his house and motioned for Rick to follow him. He opened the door hesitantly and peered inside to make sure there was no commotion happening inside. Everything seemed fine, though, and Morty led Rick through the doorway and up the stairs. He stopped in front of his bedroom door and pointed towards it. “I don’t uh- I don’t know exactly what happened to it, but it won’t latch closed now,” he said, not wanting to tell Rick what had actually happened.

Rick eyed it for a moment, opening it and closing it a few times. “Looks like it was kicked in.”

Morty chuckled nervously. “Yeah… Like I said, I don’t um- I don’t really know.”

Rick narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously before pulling a screwdriver out of his jacket and bending down, getting to work on the door. He unscrewed the latch from the doorframe, repositioned it, and screwed it back in. He tucked away the screwdriver and stood back up. “Alright, it’s fine now.”

Morty gaped. “That’s- That’s all you had to do?”

“It’s not fucking rocket science.”

Morty glared at him and flinched when he heard a door open behind him. He turned around to see Summer making her way towards the stairs. She eyed Rick. “Who’s this?”

“Uh, Summer this is- this is my… friend, Rick,” Morty hesitated before calling Rick his friend, not sure if he qualified as one yet, and not sure if Rick wanted to be called that.

Summer gave him a strange look, and Rick scowled at her. She didn’t say anything else and went down the stairs.

“Was that your sister?”

Morty rubbed his arm. “Um, yeah.”

Rick hummed in response. “Well, your door’s fixed. So, unless you want anything else, I should probably get going.”

“Do you- Do you have somewhere you need to be?”

Rick shrugged. “No.”

Morty gestured towards his room. “Well, I mean, you can- you can hang out for a bit if you want? I have video games.”

“I really shouldn’t.”

Morty groaned. “Come on, dude.”

Rick smirked and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “This is peer pressure.”

Morty chuckled. “I’m not trying to convince you to- to do drugs or something. I’m asking you if you wanna hang out. Will you?”

Rick sighed with mock irritation. “ _Fine_ , if you insist. But I’m gonna regret this later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit shorter, but I felt that this was a good place to end it. Please leave a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for reading! <3


	3. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was a day late with this update lol sorry.

“Do you ever play video games?” Morty asked as he strolled into his bedroom, Rick following close behind. Morty headed towards his tv to turn it on and peered over at Rick.

“I used to with my old friends…” Rick trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

Morty noticed how uncomfortable he looked and quickly tried to change the subject. “Well uh, what games do you like?’

Rick slipped off his bulky jacket and set it with his backpack by the door. He flopped onto Morty’s bed, making himself at home. “It’s whatever. I don’t care what we play.”

Morty nodded and turned on the Wii, getting on his knees to pull his games from under his bed. They were covered in dust, and it made Morty realize just how long it had been since he’d played.

He also realized how pissed Jessica would be if she found out he was playing video games with someone other than her.

Morty shook off the thought. He picked up a game and wiped the dust off. The corners of the cover were worn and torn. “I- I have Super Smash Bros.?”

Rick leaned up and sat with his legs crisscrossed. “Sounds good.”

Morty put in the game and grabbed two Wii remotes. He tossed one over to Rick, who caught it smoothly. Morty rose back to his feet and stood awkwardly by his bed, not sure about sitting next to Rick or not. His bed was twin sized, so they would be a bit close to each other if they sat side by side.

Rick shot him a look. “What, you think I bite or something?”

Morty scoffed. “Sometimes.”

Rick rolled his eyes. “Look, if you’re gonna be a little pussy I’ll sit on the floor. I couldn’t care less.

Morty huffed. “Fine, scoot over.”

Rick shifted over until his shoulder was against the wall, and Morty gently sat beside him, trying his best to keep his distance. He was almost hanging off the edge of the bed. Although he barely knew Rick, he didn’t feel like he should feel so weird around him. He shook his head, irritated with himself for being so awkward. He pointed his remote at the tv and chose the game.

“Have you- Have you played before?” Morty asked as the character selection screen came up.

“Hell yeah.”

Morty chose his favorite, Pikachu. He snorted when Rick chose Kirby. “You like Kirby?”

“You underestimate his power,” Rick glanced over at Morty with a smirk, “and my skills.”

Morty gave him a sly grin. “Sure. Get- Get ready to have your ass beat.”

Morty chose a battleground and prepared himself as the announcer counted down.

**3**

**2**

**1**

**Go!**

Their characters darted towards each other, throwing kicks and punches. Morty groaned when Rick kept dodging almost all his hits, managing to hit Morty almost every time. He grew anxious as he watched his damage count go up. Rick got another good hit, and Morty watched pitifully as Pikachu disappeared off the screen.

“Asshole,” Morty mumbled.

Rick laughed and elbowed Morty. “Told you Kirby was the shit.”

They played a couple more rounds, Rick winning every time. Morty grew frustrated. He was used to being the one winning when he played with Jessica.

“Did you used to play this- play this game religiously or something?”

Rick chuckled almost bitterly. “I used to play quite a bit but uh, I haven’t in about… two years or so.”

“Is there a- Is there a game you’re not good at? ‘Cause I’d rather play that.”

Rick laughed. “Nah, don’t think so.”

Morty rolled his eyes in amusement. “I have Super Mario, too, if you’re getting bored.”

Rick shrugged.

Morty took that as a yes and rose from the bed to change the game. He opened the case to Super Mario only to find that it wasn’t in there, Just Dance 3 in its place. He groaned and began opening each game case to find it, most of them in the wrong one. He finally found it and put it in the Wii, placing Super Smash Bros. in the wrong case. He knew he would regret it later, as he did every time, but he didn’t bother fixing it. He sat back on his bed and looked over at Rick, who had his eyes closed and his chin rested on his hand.

“Tired?”

Rick sighed and rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Did you- Did you sleep last night?”

“No.”

Morty raised a brow. “None?”

Rick shook his head.

“Why?”

He shrugged and stayed silent for a few moments, staring at Morty’s bed. “Just… a lot on my mind, I guess.”

Morty wasn’t sure what to say, he just rubbed his bed sheets with his fingers awkwardly.

Rick stretched his legs out and laid back, resting his head on one of Morty’s pillows. “We gonna play or what?”

Morty shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Yeah, sorry.” He selected the game and they picked their characters, Morty choosing Mario and Rick choosing Luigi. They played for a while, working together to clear the levels. But then Rick started killing him on purpose, laughing maniacally each time the death sound effect played from the tv. He threw a turtle shell at Morty and killed him again, making him groan in a mixture of frustration and amusement. “Dude, why- why do you keep doing that?”

Rick chuckled. “It’s funny.”

“It is _not_ ,” Morty said, kicking Rick’s foot.

Rick kicked back, and Morty kicked back harder. Rick elbowed Morty with enough force to make him drop his remote on the floor, and Morty whipped around to glare at him. He couldn’t suppress the smile that spread across his face, though. He raised his arm, about to elbow Rick back, but Rick leaned up and grabbed a hold of Morty’s wrist. Morty faltered and raised his other arm, only for Rick to shift and grab a hold of it, too. Morty’s eyes darted back and forth from each of his hands, until they settled on Rick, who was now in front of him. “Watcha gonna do now?” Rick said with a smirk.

Morty furrowed his brows and raised his foot to kick him, but Rick maneuvered to straddle Morty, rendering his legs useless. He pinned Morty’s wrists to the bed, grinning smugly down at him. A fiery blush spread across Morty’s cheeks, and he wished he had control of his hands so he could cover his face. He stared up into Rick’s eyes, and watched as Rick’s smile diminished, his expression becoming flustered. Morty blinked, his heart pounding with… excitement? He wasn’t sure what he felt in that moment. He was dazed, his stomach tied up in a knot.

Rick cleared his throat and let go of Morty, moving backward so he wasn’t hovering over him. “Sorry.”

Morty stared for a few more moments, completely breathless. He hadn’t wanted Rick to move and he didn’t know why. Rick was still straddling him, and Morty felt his blush spread to his ears.

They jumped apart when there was a knock on Morty’s door. “Mom said to come down for dinner!” Summer’s muffled voice sounded through.

Morty raised a brow. His mom never cooked anymore. Maybe once a month, usually not even that, and it was always weird and tense because she made them eat at the table as a ‘family.’

He sighed, still feeling awkward. He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced over at Rick, who wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “Do you uh, do you wanna stay for dinner?”

Rick shook his head. “Nah. I should probably get going anyway.”

They moved to leave the room, keeping their distance from each other. Rick put his jacket back on and threw his backpack over his shoulder. They moseyed down the stairs, and Morty prayed that his mom wouldn’t see Rick. He knew she wouldn’t care if he was there, he just didn’t want her to try talking to him. She would without a doubt say something to embarrass Morty in front of him, and Morty had already done that plenty himself.

Of course, just his luck, Beth was in the living room—looking like she was waiting on them.

“Summer told me you had a friend over,” she smiled.

God, Morty could have _killed_ Summer right then. Rage boiled inside of him towards his sister.

Morty chuckled half-heartedly as he and Rick stepped into the living room. “Yeah… mom, this is Rick. Rick… my mom,” Morty said, gesturing between them weakly.

Rick stepped forward and held out his hand, Beth shaking it and smiling at him kindly. “Hello, Ms. Smith. You have a beautiful home.”

Morty was taken aback by Rick’s manners. It seemed completely unlike him to bother being nice to _anyone_ , especially Morty’s mom.

Beth gushed. “Aww, thank you, Rick. Would you like to stay for dinner?”

Then it hit Morty like a ton of bricks. Since Summer had told her that he had a friend over, she decided to cook so she would seem like a good mother. That was _so_ like her. He then realized why it seemed like the norm a few years ago for her to cook all the time. It was because Jessica was always over. She always tried to seem like a good and loving mother to the rest of the world, but Morty knew her true side. Her ugly, horrible side. That side was who she really was, not the façade she tried to put on.

He repressed his glare, knowing it wouldn’t get him anywhere except for in an argument with her. He decided to look at the floor instead. He saw Rick turn to look at him in his peripherals before he turned back to face her.

“Thank you for the offer, but my dad needs me home.”

Morty almost laughed. She was definitely expecting Rick to say yes. Morty glanced up at her to see her smile falter slightly. “Oh, well, maybe another time, then.”

Morty flinched when Rick patted him on the shoulder, giving him a knowing look. “See you at school tomorrow.”

Morty stared into his eyes for a moment before nodding. He watched as he said goodbye to Beth and exited the house. She turned back to Morty. “Is he your friend? Why was he over?”

Morty shrugged. “I guess. And he was fixing my door,” he said, a trace of bitterness seeping into his tone.

Beth narrowed her eyes at him, her lips in a tight line. She didn’t say anything, though, and retreated to the dining room. Morty attempted to project all the anger he felt in that moment into one harsh glare directed at her back. He balled his hands into tight fists, his fingernails digging painfully into his palms. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes and letting it out slowly. Now was not the time to get angry.

He made his way towards the table and sat down, having no appetite as usual. Beth had made chicken tenders with Kraft macaroni and cheese and instant mashed potatoes; the quickest thing she could make. He hadn’t eaten in two days, and he knew he needed to—but he couldn’t help the disgusted look that crossed his face. He felt hungry, of course. His stomach growled and he had hunger pains like any normal person did when their body demanded food. But the thought of eating just made him feel _sick_. Food was so bland to him anymore, and he never looked forward to shoving the tasteless garbage down his throat.

Summer sat across from him and Beth sat at the end of the table, both quietly eating.

“Thanks for cooking, mom,” Summer said, taking a bite of her chicken tender.

“You’re welcome.”

Morty shoved his macaroni around his plate with his fork, his elbow on the table and his chin resting in his hand.

“Morty?”

He blinked. “Uh, yeah. Thanks, mom.”

“Do you not like it?” She questioned.

Morty sighed, irritated. “I do, I’m- I’m just not very hungry.”

“I never see you eat anymore,” she said.

“I mean, you’re not really around enough to be able to,” he said under his breath.

He froze and widened his eyes when he realized what had come out of his mouth. He spared a glance at his mom, hoping she hadn’t heard him.

“What did you say, Morty?” She said, voice sounding forcefully calm.

There was a sudden chill in the air, and Morty felt goosebumps rise on his skin. “Nothing, mom. I didn’t- I didn’t mean it.”

She slammed a fist on the table, causing Morty and Summer to flinch and the silverware to jangle. “I’m doing my best!”

“I’m- I’m sure you are, mom! Alright? Can- Can you calm down now, please?” Morty said, holding his hands up defensively.

Summer stood swiftly from her chair. “I’m going back to my room.”

“No! You’re staying right here,” Beth demanded, placing a finger on the table. “We’re going to sit down and eat dinner like a family.”

Morty huffed. “How is this a family?” He asked, his voice cracking on the last word. He felt tears well up in his eyes, and he cursed himself internally for letting himself break.

Beth rolled her eyes. “Oh, of course you’re going to cry, Morty. Because I’m _such_ a terrible mother. I do everything I can for you two! But I can’t do anything right, can I?”

Morty wiped the tears from his cheeks. He knew his crying would make his mom even more angry with him, but he couldn’t make it stop. “Mom, please- please stop-“

“No, Morty! You’re both such ungrateful brats! You should just go live with your father!”

That was what always broke Morty the most. Those words. It made him feel like absolute garbage, like a nuisance that nobody wanted around.

Summer spoke up. “Why do you say that so much? Even if we did want to go live with him, you know we haven’t heard from him in years. It’s like you’re trying to rub it in that we have nowhere else to go,” she said, crossing her arms.

Morty knew that that was exactly what his mom was doing. She was basically saying that they were stuck with her, and that there was nothing they could do about it. And that made Morty feel hopeless. More tears fell from his eyes and he covered his face so that his mom wouldn’t see.

She did, though, of course.

“Quit your crying or I’ll give you something to cry about!”

“Leave him alone, mom,” Summer said.

“You know what, I’m done with this,” Beth said, swiping her bottle of wine off the counter. She stomped up the stairs, the slamming of her bedroom door rattling the house.

“What the hell, Morty?” Summer turned on him.

Morty gave her an incredulous look. “What?”

“You know that it’s easier to just be quiet! It’s annoying, but it makes things easier on us. Why did you have to tick her off?”

“I’m tired of being quiet, Summer! We’re always quiet! I’m sick of being- of being treated like a doormat!”

Summer rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Morty. I’m leaving.”

“Where are you going?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Somewhere,” she said, taking her keys out of her pocket.

He watched her silently as she put on her shoes and left without another word, the sound of her car starting and driving away fading into the distance.

Morty frowned and stared at the floor, feeling lonely and empty. He decided that there was no point in staying downstairs, so he went up to his room and shut the door quietly. He laid down in his bed and bundled up in his blankets. There was a trace of Rick’s cologne sticking to them, and Morty breathed in deeply, Rick’s scent making him feel less lonely. He blocked out the thoughts telling him that what he was doing was creepy.

The thought of Rick made Morty pull out his phone and bring up a new message. He felt like he was maybe being a little bit clingy considering Rick had only left about 20 minutes ago. Rick was probably already getting tired of him.

Morty sighed and contemplated sending one or not. He typed and erased multiple messages, growing frustrated with himself. He shook his head and decided saying hi wouldn’t hurt anything.

**6:02 P.M.**

**Morty: Hey**

He frantically typed out another when he realized Rick didn’t have his number.

**Morty: It’s Morty btw**

He watched as the ‘delivered’ status turned to ‘read’ within seconds.

**Rick: Yo**

**Rick: Did something happen? I saw Summer leave. She looked pissed**

Morty grimaced. He didn’t want to say anything, but Rick already knew that something was up, and he didn’t want to lie to him.

**Morty: Kind of. It’s not a big deal though**

**Rick: You sure**

Morty couldn’t help but wonder if Rick _actually_ cared or not, but it wasn’t like Morty was going to tell him the whole story either way.

**Morty: Yeah**

**Rick: Okay**

**Rick: Well I’m trying to fix something so if anything happens just let me know**

**Rick: Or you can come by. I don’t care. My folks won’t be home for a few days**

Morty smirked, remembering how Rick had told Beth that his dad needed him home.

**Morty: Alright**

He wasn’t sure what to say other than that, so he turned off his phone and shut his eyes—planning to only rest them for a few minutes.

-

Morty stretched when he woke, cursing himself for falling asleep. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night after taking a nap, he had never been able to. He picked up his phone to check the time, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

4:12 A.M.

Okay, guess there wasn’t a need to worry. He had already slept 10 hours. It felt weird waking up with it still being dark outside. He shoved his phone in his pocket and pulled back his curtains, peering out of his window to see if Summer’s car was in the driveway.

It wasn’t. Which was the usual. He figured that she stayed the night at a friend’s house or went to a party or something.

He sighed and unlocked his window, deciding to go out onto his roof. That’s what he usually did when he couldn’t sleep or when he got into a fight with his mom. He would lay down on his roof and look at the stars. It was peaceful, and it allowed him to be alone for a little while. It wasn’t the type of alone that made him feel lonely, because it was always late when he went up there. Nobody was choosing to leave him alone up there, they were just sleeping. It made him feel better to know that.

He walked to the edge of the roof that was closer to his backyard and laid down, lining his feet up with the edge and resting his hands behind his head. The stars were dazzling, and there was a bright three-quarter moon illuminating his surroundings. It was silent except for the crickets chirping and the soft wind rustling the trees. It was a bit chilly, so Morty was thankful that he wore a long-sleeved shirt.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check his messages. He raised a brow when he noticed he had two from Rick.

**12:56 A.M.**

**Rick: Hey**

**Rick: Just wanted to make sure that everything’s alright**

Morty smiled, feeling happy that Rick seemed to care about him.

**4:17 A.M.**

**Morty: Yeah I’m good**

Morty figured that Rick wouldn’t see the message until later, and he stiffened when he saw that Rick was typing.

_Did I wake him up?_

Morty bit his lip, waiting for him to respond.

**Rick: What are you doing up**

Not what he was expecting Rick to say, but he typed back a reply, nonetheless.

**Morty: I just woke up lol**

**Morty: Better question is what are YOU doing up**

**Rick: I couldn’t sleep so I’m hanging out on my roof**

Morty’s eyes widened and he turned his head to the right to look over at Rick’s house. He spotted Rick, who was laying in almost the same position as Morty, except his legs were dangling off the edge of the roof. He had his phone placed on his chest, presumably waiting for Morty to respond.

**Morty: Look to your left**

Morty watched Rick as he picked up his phone and read the message, his expression turning confused. He looked over in Morty’s direction, and Morty waved at him awkwardly, smiling shyly. Rick grinned and turned away, beginning to type.

**Rick: I don’t see anything :/**

Morty snorted, trying to think of a snarky reply. He couldn’t think of anything particularly witty, so he just settled for the first thing that popped into his head.

**Morty: Shut the fuck up**

**Rick: Make me**

_Okay_.

Morty made sure Rick wasn’t looking, and he stood and walked across his roof towards the oak tree that grew between his and Rick’s house. He grabbed a hold of a branch and made his way across it. It was pretty easy to do considering how thick the branches were. He crawled onto the branch that just barely touched Rick’s house and walked across it effortlessly, stepping onto Rick’s roof. He wiped off his jeans and snapped a thin twig off, tiptoeing across the roof towards Rick.

Rick had his phone on his chest again and was laying back with his eyes closed. Morty eased his way closer, trying not to make a sound.

“You’re not as quiet as you think you are,” Rick said, keeping his eyes closed.

Morty huffed and threw the stick he was carrying at Rick’s head, who held up his hand in time to swat it away.

“Dickhead,” Morty mumbled. He walked over to Rick and laid to the right of him, mirroring his position. “I wasn’t expecting you to- to be awake.”

Rick hummed in response but didn’t say anything.

“Why- Why can’t you sleep?”

“Reasons.”

“Have you always had that problem?”

“No.”

Morty wasn’t sure if he should pry or not, but he couldn’t help himself. “Do you know why you’re uh, suddenly having it?”

Rick chuckled bitterly. “I have a few ideas.”

Morty wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he figured if Rick wanted him to know, he would have said it.

“Are you- Are you gonna try sleeping again soon?”

Rick shook his head. “Nah.”

“We- We have school, though.”

“I’m probably gonna skip.”

“Oh,” Morty said, disappointed. “2nd period is gonna be lame then.”

“You can skip with me,” Rick offered.

Morty widened his eyes. He had only ever skipped school a few times, and Jessica had gotten mad at him for it. She always lectured him about how important school was and yadda yadda yadda, but Morty couldn’t care less about it. She would be _livid_ if she found out he had skipped with Rick.

But the offer was tempting.

“What would we do?” Morty asked.

“I don’t know. We can go do something fun,” Rick said, rising to his feet. He held his hand out to Morty, helping him up.

“We’re- We’re going now?”

Rick shrugged. “Might as well get an early start. No point in sitting around.”

Morty rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you sure- Are you sure you don’t wanna try getting some sleep first?”

“Nah, I’m fine. I’ll sleep later,” Rick said, waving him off dismissively.

Morty was a little bit worried about Rick. He said he hadn’t slept the day before either. But Rick seemed to be functioning alright, so Morty trusted his judgement.

Rick cleared his throat. “Alright, come on.”

Morty followed Rick to his window, and Rick seemed to hesitate for a moment. He looked like he was having an internal argument with himself before he sighed and opened it up, motioning for Morty to climb through.

Morty stepped in and onto the floor, Rick coming in behind him. He took in his surroundings. Rick had numerous posters from bands Morty had never heard of plastered on his walls, along with posters of planets and space. The room was cluttered with moving boxes and knick knacks, and tools and gadgets that Morty didn’t know the use for. All in all, it was an organized mess.

“Your room is… really cool,” Morty said, in awe of everything that there was to look at. And it was true. Rick’s room was a lot more interesting than Morty’s room, which was as bland as it could be.

“Thanks,” Rick mumbled, ushering for Morty to follow him. Morty complied, confused about Rick’s urgency to leave the room.

Rick led him downstairs and to the kitchen. “Have you eaten?”

Morty took a seat at the island, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, no… But I’m not- I’m not hungry.”

Rick rose a brow at him. “When was the last time you ate?”

Morty twiddled his fingers, not looking Rick in the eyes. “Um… Sunday…?”

Rick gave him an incredulous look. “ _Sunday_?”

“I just don’t ever have an appetite…”

Rick bit his lip in thought, looking troubled. “I’m making you pancakes,” he said, opening cabinets and pulling ingredients out of them.

Morty waved his hands frantically. “Nononono please- please don’t, I’m not- I’m really not hungry.”

Rick gave him a pointed look. “I’m making you pancakes.”

Morty realized that there was no point in arguing with him. He sighed and rubbed the counter with his finger, pouting.

After a few moments of silence, he glanced up at Rick, who was measuring out ingredients seemingly from memory.

“You know how to cook?” Morty asked.

Rick nodded. “Yeah… Me and my mom used to cook together. She uh, she taught me.”

“You two are close?”

Rick frowned. “Were.”

“Oh… What happened?”

“She killed herself.”

Morty froze, eyes wide. Rick kept stirring the ingredients, keeping his troubled expression. God, Morty felt absolutely _terrible_ for asking. He cringed at himself, wishing he wouldn’t have pried.

“I’m- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t… I shouldn’t have asked.”

Rick shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“It’s really not…” Morty mumbled, rubbing at his arm.

Rick sighed. “There’s nothing I can do about it, so… there’s no point in being upset.”

Morty looked at Rick with pure pity. He felt _so_ bad for him. “You can’t just block off your emotions like that… y’know… You gotta- You gotta let yourself _feel_.”

Rick scoffed. “Trust me, I did.”

Morty frowned. “When did… When did it happen?”

“Two years ago,” he said, pouring the batter onto the hot pan.

“I’m really, _really_ sorry, Rick.”

Rick shook his head. “It’s not _your_ fault.”

“I know, I just…” Morty trailed off, thinking of something to say. He couldn’t imagine what Rick had went through, or what he was _still_ going through. Morty had heard his dad and stepmom fighting, so things obviously still weren’t good for him. “Did your… Did your mom and dad get along?” Morty hoped that things were good at least sometime in his life.

Rick shrugged. “Sometimes.”

Morty’s frown deepened.

_Damn_.

“Okay, we’ve talked about it enough,” Rick said, transferring the pancakes from the pan to a plate.

He grabbed a fork and set the stack in front of Morty, placing a bottle of syrup next to it.

“Eat.”

Morty grimaced. The food looked and smelled delicious, but the thought of actually _eating_ it just made him sick.

“Rick, I-“

“Morty, _please_.”

Morty bit his lip and stared into Rick’s eyes. The pleading and just… _sad_ look on his face was breaking his heart. “I really appreciate it, Rick, but-“

Rick sighed. “Mom used to do this.”

Morty faltered. “Huh?”

Rick stared at the counter. “I would cook for her all the time, but she would never eat it. Said she didn’t have an appetite,” he mumbled, going silent for a moment after. “Makes me worry about you…”

Morty stared up at him. He was worried? About _him_? “Rick, I’m fine, though,” he lied.

Rick met his eyes. “If you’re fine, then you’ll eat. ‘Cause no normal person goes two days without eating and then refuses food like you do.”

Morty huffed. He didn’t like being called out like that. “Are _you_ going to eat?”

“Already did.”

Morty sighed and squirted some syrup onto the pancakes. He picked up his fork and tore off a small piece, hesitantly putting it into his mouth.

He chewed unhappily for a moment before he perked up at the blissful taste that overtook his mouth. “J-Jesus, Rick, you’re a really good cook,” he said, taking another bite.

Rick smirked. “Thanks.”

Morty couldn’t remember the last time he had actually enjoyed eating. He ate half of them, not wanting to stuff himself. Rick took the plate and scraped the rest into the trash can, going to the sink to wash it. Morty felt a little guilty having Rick do so much for him, but Rick didn’t seem to mind at all.

Rick reached into his jacket and grabbed his keys. “You ready to go?”

Morty nodded and stood, following Rick outside.

They made their way over to Rick’s truck, and Morty opened the passenger side door. He cringed once again at the screech it made. He slid into the seat and shut the door, buckling his seatbelt. Rick started up the truck and pulled out of the driveway, not buckling his own.

“Where- Where are we gonna go?” Morty asked.

Rick grinned. “You’ll see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment letting me know your thoughts, it really helps me out. Thanks for reading!


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